Introduction to Federal Courts

The federal courts are the third branch of the
government of the United States of America, and may be the least
understood of the three branches. Most Americans are familiar with the
White House and the Congress, but are less familiar with the Supreme
Court and the many lower federal courts nationwide. While courts
occasionally make news with landmark rulings or through decisions in
interesting cases, they tend to be less visible than other government
entities.

Most Americans have heard the President make a
speech on television or watched the Congress debate on C-SPAN. In
contrast, the proceedings of federal courts are not televised, and most
people have not heard an oral argument or testimony before a federal
court, at least outside of jury duty. Although the federal courts do
not get the publicity that the other two branches of government do,
their decisions have a profound impact on the lives of all Americans.

The federal court system is created in the U.S. Constitution. This segment will discuss the Constitutional basis for
the federal courts. It will also discuss how the federal courts operate
in the Constitutional system of "checks and balances" with the
executive and legislative branches of government.

Congress may not decrease the pay of federal judges or Supreme Court justices while they are in office.

The Courts and the Executive Branch

The main check that the Executive Branch has on the federal
courts is the power of appointment. Article
II of the U.S. Constitution provides that federal judges are appointed
by the President, with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. Presidents
generally appoint federal judges who share their political beliefs and
philosophy. Because federal judges are appointed for life, the power of
appointment gives a President some influence over the direction of the
court system even after his term of office ends.

On at least one occasion, a President has sought to place a check on
the federal courts by widening his appointment authority. In 1937,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed new legislation that would
allow the President to appoint an additional Justice to the Supreme
Court when a Justice passed the age of seventy without retiring. If
passed, this legislation would have allowed the President to appoint
six new Justices to the Court. Roosevelt's proposal was widely derided
as "court packing" and was never implemented.

The main Constitutional check that the federal courts have on the executive branch is through the process of impeachment , which provides for the removal of office for an elected or appointed official. Article I
of the Constitution provides that the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court presides over the Senate when the President is impeached. Chief
Justice Salmon Chase presided over the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist presided over the impeachment of President of Bill Clinton in 1999.

The Courts and the Legislative Branch

The main check that the federal courts have over the legislative branch is the process of judicial review . In the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall authored an opinion ruling that a section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional. The Marbury ruling was the first time that the Supreme Court declared that a statute passed by Congress was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court has used its power of judicial review in a variety of situations. After the Marbury decision, the next time the Court found a law unconstitutional was in the controversial Dred Scott decision, where the Court found that the Missouri Compromise legislation was unconstitutional. The Court can also rule that a federal law is constitutional. For example, in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States,
the Court upheld the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
on the grounds that discrimination against African-American hotel
guests affected interstate commerce.